C.V.
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Media Lab Cambridge, MA.
Ph.D., Media Arts and Sciences, June 2008. Tangible Media Group.
Master of Sciences, Media Arts and Sciences. June 2004. Tangible Media Group.
Concentration: Industrial Design, Epistemology, Human-Computer Interaction, and Educational toys.
Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art. May 1996. Concentration: Sculpture.
Cum Laude, Distinction in the Major.
Experience
Staff Interaction Researcher, Special Projects, Google[x]. 2011-present.
Principal Research Scientist, Design and User Experience, Nokia Research Center. 2008-2011. IDEA Team. Research and development of new technologies for family communication.
Visiting Lecturer of Computer Science, cs247 Interaction Design Studio, Stanford University. 2009-2010. In collaboration with Professors Terry Winograd and Bill Verplank.
Principal, Topobo LLC. Sales, Marketing and Manufacturing of Topobo toys.
Researcher, Tangible Media Group, MIT Media Lab. 2002-2008. Research and development of tangible computer interfaces.
Project lead, Topobo toys. 2002-2007. Ideation, design and development of Topobo building toy. Managed $500k project with 4-8 engineering and design students and numerous outside contractors to take project from concept to production manufacturing.
Instructor, Interactive Toy Design Studio, MIT Media Lab. 2006. Organized and conducted intensive toy design studio for graduate and undergraduate students.
Industrial Designer, IDEO. 2005. Intern, consumer products, experience design and concept ideation for Fortune-500 clients.
Teaching Assistant, Tangible Interfaces. 2003-2005. MIT graduate design course on tangible media.
Founder, Rafelandia design studio. 1999-2002. Industrial and graphic design studio serving consumer industries. Clients included LeapFrog Toys, Sony, Covad DSL, Ditto.com, Supracor, Tanya Starnes (Attorney), Babcock and Brown (Investment Bank).
Engineer, San Francisco Exploratorium. 2001-2002. Electro-Mechanical engineering. Design and fabrication of educational museum exhibits.
ZOOB Toys concept and design. 1995-1999. Co-developed and co-designed award winning ZOOB building toy system from original concept through manufacture.
Director, Design Department, Primoridal, LLC. 1997-1999. Directed in-house design division of Primordial, LLC with staff of 3-8 designers. Developed educational methodologies for teaching with ZOOB via print and video mediums. Designed promotional ZOOB packaging with clients such as Disney Corporation and GAP Kids.
Graphic Artist and Research Assistant to Robert Farris Thompson, Ph.D. 1996-1998. Created supporting art for Thompson’s articles in journals such as African Arts magazine, and Res 32 (Harvard Symposium of Anthropology and Aesthetics). Aided in primary source research and created photo documentation for graduate student seminars comparing West African and North American indigenous architecture.
Founder and Designer, Yale Corinthian Yacht Club Merchandising Division. 1993-1996. Created a brand ID for the Yale Sailing Team. Designed merchandising paraphernalia and created a revenue-building division for the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club.
Publications
2011
Hayes Raffle, Rafael Ballagas, Glenda Revelle, Koichi Mori, Hiroshi Horii, Chris Paretti, Mirjana Spasojevic. Pop Goes The Cell Phone: Asynchronous Messaging For Preschoolers. ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2011. Full Paper..
Hayes Raffle, Koichi Mori, Tico Ballagas, Mirjana Spasojevic. Pokaboo: A Networked Toy for Distance Communication and Play. ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2011. Short Paper..
Natalie Freed, Jie Qi, Adam Setapen, Hayes Raffle, Leah Buechley and Cynthia Breazeal. Sticking Together: Handcrafting Personalized Communication Interfaces. ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2011. Demo..
Rafael Ballagas, Glenda Revelle, Hiroshi Horii, Koichi Mori, Hayes Raffle, Mirjana Spasojevic, Janet Go, Kyle Buza, Kristin Cook, Emily Reardon, Yun-Ta Tsai and Christopher Paretti. Electric Agents: Combining Television and Mobiles for an Educational Game. ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2011. Demo..
Hayes Raffle, Glenda Revelle, Koichi Mori, Rafael “Tico” Ballagas, Kyle Buza, Hiroshi Horii, Jofish Kaye, Kristin Cook, Natalie Freed, Janet Go, Mirjana Spasojevic. Hello, Is Grandma There? StoryVisit: Family Video Chat and Connected E-Books. ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2011.
Hayes Raffle, Ruibing Wang, Karim Seada, Hiroshi Ishii. Communiclay: A Modular System for Tangible Telekinetic Communication. ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (alt.CHI) 2011.
Kimiko Ryokai, Robert Kowalski, Hayes Raffle. StoryFaces: Children Exploring Emotional Expressions in Storytelling. ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (alt.CHI) 2011.
2010
Paulo Blikstein, Leah Buechley, Michael Horn and Hayes Raffle. A New Age in Tangible Computational Interfaces for Learning. Symposium paper, International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) 2010.
Sean Follmer, Hayes Raffle, Janet Go, Rafael Ballagas, Hiroshi Ishii. Video Play: Playful Interactions in Video Conferencing for Long-Distance Families with Young Children. International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, 2010.
Natalie Freed, Winslow Burleson, Hayes Raffle, Rafael Ballagas, Naomi Newman. User Interfaces for Tangible Characters: Can Children Connect Remotely through Toy Perspectives? International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, 2010.
Hayes Raffle, Rafael “Tico” Ballagas, Glenda Revelle, Hiroshi Horii, Sean Follmer, Janet Go, Emily Reardon, Koichi Mori, Christopher Paretti, Jofish Kaye, Mirjana Spasojevic. Family Story Play: Reading with Young Children (and Elmo) Over a Distance. CHI 2010.
Sean Follmer, Hayes Raffle, Janet Go, Hiroshi Ishii. Video Play: Playful Interactions in Video Conferencing for Long-Distance Families with Young Children. In review, CHI WIP 2010.
Ryokai, K., Raffle, H., Horii, H., Mann, Y. Tangible Video Bubbles. Extended Abstracts of CHI 2010 (alt.CHI).
Rafael Ballagas, Hayes Raffle, Janet Go, Glenda Revelle, Joseph ‘Jofish’ Kaye, Morgan Ames, Hiroshi Horii, Koirchi Mori, Mirjana Spasojevic. Story Time for the 21st Century. In Review, IEEE Pervasive Computer Journal.
David Merrill and Hayes Raffle. Sound of Touch: Physical Manipulation of Digital Sound. Book Chapter, Sonic Interaction Design.
Farr, William; Yuill, Nicola; Raffle, Hayes. Social Interactional Benefits of a Tangible User Interface for Children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions. Autism (Journal forthcoming).
Abel Allison, Sean Follmer, Hayes Raffle. TessalTable: Tile-based Creation of Patterns and Images. TEI 2010.
2009
Rafael Ballagas, Jofish Kaye, Morgan Ames, Janet Go, Hayes Raffle. Family Communication: Phone Conversations with Children. IDC 2009 Workshop on Children and Mobile Technology: Interface Development for Mobile Touch Devices.
Ryokai, K., Raffle, H., Brooks, A. Tangible Message Bubbles For Children’s Communication and Play. Extended Abstracts of CHI 2009 (CHI wip).
Brown, A., Raffle, H. Opportunities for Actuated Tangible Interfaces to Improve Protein Study. Extended Abstracts of CHI 2009 (alt.CHI).
Farr, W., Raffle, H. Collaborative benefits of a Tangible Interface for Autistic Children. CHI 2009 (workshop).
(Best Paper Award) Snibbe, S., Raffle, H. Social Immersive Media: Pursuing best practices for multi-user interactive camera/projector exhibits. CHI 2009.
2008
Ames, M., Go, J., Takayama, L., Raffle, H., Spasojevic, M., Ballagas, R. Exploring Family Communication and Technology Use with an Eye to Design. CSCW 2008 Workshop.
Raffle, H. Sculpting Behavior: A Tangible Language for Hands on Play and Learning. Ph.D. Thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2008). (High-res copy here.)
Super Cilia Skin Included in Inform Material, “Thema.” 2008.
Brownell, Blaine (ed). Transmaterial 2: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (2008). Features Super Cilia Skin.
2007
Raffle, H., and Tichenor, J. Super Cilia Skin: Interfaz de Texturas, Pasajes Construcción: Materiales. Number 31, September 2007, pp. 8-9 and front cover. Madrid: América Ibérica.
Raffle, H., Yip, L., Ishii, H. Remix and Robo: sampling, sequencing and real-time control of a tangible robotic construction system. In Proceedings of Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Educator’s Forum (SIGGRAPH ‘07), (San Diego, CA, August 5-9 2007).
Raffle, H., Vaucelle, C., Wang, R., Ishii, H. Jabberstamp: Embedding Sound and Voice in Traditional Drawings. In Proceedings of Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Educator’s Forum (SIGGRAPH ‘07), (San Diego, CA, August 5-9 2007).
Merrill, D., Raffle, H. The Sound of Touch, in Extended Abstracts of Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Emerging Technologies (SIGGRAPH ‘07), (San Diego, CA, August 5-9 2007).
Raffle, H., Yip, L., Ishii, H. Remix and Robo: sampling, sequencing and real-time control of a tangible robotic construction system. In Proceedings of Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC 07), (Aalborg, Denmark June 6-8, 2007).
Raffle, H., Vaucelle, C., Wang, R., Ishii, H. Jabberstamp: Embedding Sound and Voice in Traditional Drawings. In Proceedings of Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC 07), (Aalborg, Denmark June 6-8, 2007).
Merrill, D., Raffle, H. The Sound of Touch, in Extended Abstracts of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 07), (San Jose, CA April 28-May 3, 2007).
2006
Raffle, H., Yip, L. and Ishii, H. Robo Topobo: Improvisational Performance with Robotic Toys. Extended Abstracts of Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Systems (SIGGRAPH 2006). Boston, MA.
Raffle, H., Parkes, A., Lifton, J, and Ishii, H. Beyond Record and Play — Backpacks: Tangible Modulators of Kinetic Behavior. Proceedings of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2006). Montreal, Canada.
2004
Raffle, H., Tichenor, J., and Ishii, H. Super Cilia Skin: A Textural Interface, Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture. London: Berg Publishers. 2004.
Raffle, H. Topobo: A 3-D Constructive Assembly System with Kinetic Memory, Master’s Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004.
Raffle, H., Parkes, A. and Ishii, H. Topobo: A Constructive Assembly System with Kinetic Memory, Proceedings of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2004), Vienna, Austria.
2003
Maynes-Aminzade, D. and Raffle, H. You’re In Control: Streaming Video, Maxim Magazine Belgium, November 2003. Maxim Magazine Russia/Ukraine, November 2003. Maxim Magazine USA, August 2003.
Maynes-Aminzade, D. and Raffle, H. Interaktives Pissoir, bild der wissenschaft, September 2003.
Raffle, H., Joachim, M., and Tichenor, J. Super Cilia Skin: An Interactive Membrane, Proceedings of CHI 2003.
Maynes-Aminzade, D. and Raffle, H. You’re In Control: A Urinary User Interface, Proceedings of CHI 2003.
Patents
H. Raffle, A. Parkes, H. Ishii. Pending: Physical Modeling System To Create Three-Dimensional Forms and Manipulate Them With The Aid Of Computation. Application filed April 20, 2004. A construction set consisting of active and passive components that can be assembled to create things that move, like animals and skeletons. MIT Media Lab.
H. Raffle, D. Maynes-Amnizade. US Patent Number 7,143,654: Methods and apparatus for detecting the presence, intensity, trajectory or location of a liquid stream. Application filed Dec. 10, 2004. Sensors attached to a flexible membrane input the position of a liquid stream to a computer. MIT Media Lab.
Awards & Honors
2008
I.D. Magazine Student Design Review, 2008. Honorable Mention, Jabberstamp.
Marquis Who’s Who in America, 2008.
2007
Robots at Play, 2007. Most playful robotic system, Topobo.
Web 2.0 Award. 2007. Honorable Mention, "Fun Stuff," Fuzzmail.
2006
LEGO Fellow, 2005-2006. Fellowship for Research in educational technologies at the MIT Media Lab.
2005
Director’s Grant. 2005. MIT Office of the Arts grant to produce Applause video installation for the Boston Cyberarts Festival.
iCampus grant. 2005. Grant award from Microsoft Corp. for design, community outreach and education research with Topobo.
2004
ARS Electronica 2004, Honorable Mention, Interactive Art. Topobo.
Design of Interactive Systems Interactive Design Awards. 2004 Honorable mention, Topobo.
I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, 2004. Design Distinction, Student Work, Topobo.
2003
LEGO Fellow, 2003-2004. Fellowship for Research at the MIT Media Lab.
2002
MIT Media Lab, 2002-2003. Fellowship for Research Assistantship with the Tangible Media Group.
1999
I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, 1999. Design Distinction, Consumer Products, ZOOB toys.
1998
National Parenting Center Seal of Approval. 1998. ZOOB Toys.
Family Fun finalist.1998. ZOOB Toys.
1997
Parent’s Choice Honors. 1997. ZOOB Toys.
Dr. Toy. 1997. 10 Best Toys of the year. ZOOB Toys.
1992
University of California at Santa Barbara. 1992. Merit Scholarship.
Exhibitions
2010
Consumer Electronics Show. Las Vegas, NV.
2009
Maker Faire 2009. San Mateo, CA.
2008
NEXT 2008: Mindblowers. 2008. Aarhus, Denmark.
2007
Collision 12: Mini. 2007. MIT Stata Center Balcony Gallery. Cambridge, MA.
Robots at Play. 2007. Odense, Denmark.
SIGGRAPH Emerging Technologies. 2007. San Diego, CA.
Play Innovation. 2007. Kitakyushu Innovation Gallery & Studio inaugural exhibition. Kitakyushu, Japan.
Future Film Festival. 2007. Bologna, Italy.
2006
iCampus Exhibition. 2006. MIT Museum. Six month exhibition of Microsoft-MIT alliance (Topobo). Cambridge, MA.
Imaging Body and Mind. 2006. Hartford Atheneum, Hartford, CT.
Collision Ten. 2006. Art Interactive, Cambridge, MA.
SIGGRAPH Educational Robotics Demo. 2006.SIGGRAPH conference session on educational robotics (Topobo). Boston, MA.
SIGGRAPH Etech. 2006. SIGGRAPH conference session on emerging technologies (Topobo). Boston, MA.
Threads. 2006. Artspace Gallery, New Haven, CT.
2005
Victoria & Albert Museum Touch Exhibition. 2005. Victoria and Albert Museum. London, England.
Boston Cyberarts Festival. 2005. Stata Center Balcony. Cambridge, MA.
Collision Seven: Chance. 2005. Art Interactive. Cambridge, MA.
2004
Show Me Yours: a presentation of recent work in the School of Architecture and Planning (MIT). 2004. Cambridge, MA.
Collision Six: Senses. 2004. Group exhibition. Art Interactive. Cambridge, MA.
Artbots: The Robot Talent Show. 2004. Group exhibition. The Mink Building. New York, NY.
Cyberarts 2004. 2004 Ars Electronica interactive art awards exhibition. OK Centrum, Linz, Austria.
ARS Electronica Center. 2004.One year installation, Topobo. Linz, Austria.
Wired NextFest. 2004. Wired Magazine international technology exhibition. Fort Mason Center. San Francisco, CA.
2003
Collision 5. 2003. Boston Cyberarts Festival at the MIT Compton Gallery, Cambridge, MA. Group show.
2002
NewFangle 2002. Herbst International Exhibition Hall, San Francisco, CA. Group show.
Hypercollision 2002. MIT Museum. Cambridge, MA. Group show.
2001
Exploratorium “Prepared Exploratorium.” 2001. San Francisco, CA. Group show about perception and sound.
Exploratorium “Chain Reaction.” 2001. San Francisco, CA. Group show curated by Arthur Ganson.
Yale University. 2001. New Haven, CT. Alumni exhibition.
1992
University of California at Santa Barbara. 1992. Temporary outdoor installation.
Invited Talks
2011
International Conference on Interaction Design and Children. Pop Goes The Cell Phone: Asynchronous Messaging For Preschoolers.
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Hello, Is Grandma There? StoryVisit: Family Video Chat and Connected E-Books.
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Communiclay: A Modular System for Tangible Telekinetic Communication.
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. StoryFaces: Children Exploring Emotional Expressions in Storytelling.
Stanford School of Education. Tangible Toolkits for Learning.
2010
Google. Connected Reading for Family Communication.
International Conference of the Learning Sciences 2010 A New Age in Tangible Computational Interfaces for Learning. Chicago, IL.
International Conference on Interaction Design and Children 2010 Video Play: Playful Interactions in Video Conferencing for Long-Distance Families with Young Children. Barcelona, Spain.
Stanford University School of Education. Family Communication. Stanford, CA.
CHI 2010 Papers program. Family Story Play Atlanta, GA.
CHI 2010 Posters program. Video Play Atlanta, GA.
CHI 2010 alt.CHI. Tangible Video Bubbles Atlanta, GA.
2009
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society CMU West. Designing with Tangible Modular Robotics. Mountain View, CA.
Stanford University School of Education. Sculpting Behavior. Stanford, CA.
Makani Power Sculpting Behavior and Family Net. Alameda, CA.
Willow Garage Sculpting Behavior. Menlo Park, CA.
Stanford University Art Department. Sculpting Behavior. Stanford, CA.
Stanford University Seminar on People, Computers, and Design. Sculpting Behavior. Stanford, CA.
2008
U.C. Berkeley School of Information. Foundations for BabyNet. Berkeley, CA.
ACM Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (SIGCHI). Sound of Touch: Physical Manipulation of Digital Sound. Florence, Italy.
ACM Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (SIGCHI). Topobo in the Wild. Florence, Italy.
Intel Research. Sculpting Behavior. Berkeley, CA.
Nokia Research. Sculpting Behavior. Palo Alto, CA.
Stanford HCI lunch. Sculpting Behavior. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
2007
Boston Cyberarts 2007. Physical Intelligence: roundtable discussion on the body’s body of knowledge. Cambridge, MA.
UC Berkeley Institute of Design (BID). 2007. Sculpting Behavior. Berkeley, CA.
2006
Hartford Atheneum Art & Science Podium. 2006. Social Imaging: Data Painting from Human Behavior. In Imaging Body and Mind. Hartford Atheneum, Hartford, CT.
SIGGRAPH educator’s forum. 2006. Toys as Trojan Horses for Learning. Boston, MA.
MIT Media Lab. 2006. Trojan Horses for Ideas. Ph. D. General Exams. Cambridge, MA.
2005
Flandrau Science Center. 2005. Advisory board member, Stile II. Tangibles for Learning. Tucson, AZ.
2004
MIT Graduate Arts Forum. 2004. Bio Art. 2004. Panel discussion of artwork and research.
Boston Museum of Science. 2004. Presentation of research (Topobo).
Cooper-Hewitt Summer Design Institute 2004. Workshop: Reinventing Froebel’s gifts. New York, NY.
CAMPUS-TI. 2004. Lecturer, workshops on design of tangible interfaces. Valencia, Spain.
MITRE. 2004. Presentation of art, design and research to internal R&D groups. Bedford, MA.
Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. 2004. Presentation of research (Topobo). Ivrea, Italy.
International Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2004. Presentation of research. Vienna, Austria.
2003
Tufts University. 2003. Center for Engineering Education Outreach. Presentation of research. Boston, MA.
LEGO Corporation. 2003. Presentation of research. Billund, Denmark.
Ars Electronica Futurelab. 2003. Presentation of research. Linz, Austria.
2002
School of the Museum of Fine Arts. 2002. Visiting speaker in sculpture department. Boston, MA.
Press
Interviews with Hayes Raffle and/or reviews have appeared in media that include: The Tonight Show, The Discovery Channel, TechTV, BBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, Axis Magazine, Make Magazine, ID Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Leonardo Magazine, Ppaper, Family Fun Magazine, PC Magazine, PC Gamer, Discovery News, Maxim, ArtsMedia, Land Rover Lifestyle, EETimes, Networked Music Review, Art Daily, hi!tech, Sputnik, El Cultural, Pasajes Construcción, Inventables DesignAid, Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and Popular Mechanics.
Skills
Physical
Precision Machining Mill and Lathe (CNC and manual), LaserCam, Water Jet Cutter.
Forming and Joining Injection Molding, 3D Printing, Vacuum Forming, Welding (TIG, MIG, Arc and torch), composite construction, finished carpentry, carving, modern finishing techniques, various casting techniques.
Electronics Circuit design and manufacture, motors, electronic sensing technologies, embedded programming and interface with hardware, and a variety of cameras (video, still, digital, analog).
Materials and fabrication Steel, Aluminum, bronze, wood, acrylic, delrin. Industrial resins, rubbers, foams, composites and thermoplastics.
Printmaking Woodblock, Intaglio, photoengraving, serigraph, offset lithography.
Digital
Mac and PC expertise.
Graphics Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, InDesign.
Web Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Wordpress, CSS, HTML.
Video Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Media Cleaner.
CAD/CAM Vellum Cobalt (3D modeling), Rhino (3D modeling), Featurecam (CAD/CAM toolpath generation), Protel, Eagle (printed circuit board design).
Programming Languages C, Python.
Embedded Systems C, Assembly language, Arduino.
Mobile Devices Python, device-hardware integration.
Other Word, Excel, Acrobat, Project.
References
References are available by request.
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